


Routines

by crisantemu



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Aoi helping, Character Study, Crossdressing, Crushes, Day 1, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Vrainsweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-07 18:05:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15224927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crisantemu/pseuds/crisantemu
Summary: Yusaku, Takeru and Aoi have their own personal routines, with their own rituals and worries. But like always, there will be something to break the cicle. In those high schooler's case, it was a simple uniform.





	Routines

**Author's Note:**

> It's exactly midnight here and I am finally posting the fic for day one of Vrains week! Yay me!  
> Ok so I wanted to make a simple character study but then my hand slipped and uuuhhh is this self-indulgent? Oh yes, probably hebshd 
> 
> Big thank you to Themidnightsky for beta-ing this mess! You are a saint! Love ya~

Yusaku’s routine is always the same.

If the nightmares don’t wake him up, then it’s his cleaning robot, cheerfully beeping as she cleans his small room.

“Good morning, master!” She says happily, picking up a shard from the ground. _Oh_ … “School starts in 30 minutes and 48 seconds, I advice you start getting ready!”

Yusaku nods at the small blue robot and rises up from the bed. He hisses in pain and palms his arm where his old bandages are. The boy then eyes Roboppy, still cleaning the mess from the floor.

The mess _he made_.

“What about Ai?” he asks, softly rubbing his arm and looking around the little space that is his “home”.

“Kusanagi-sama took him yesterday for a hacking process, just as master had asked.”

Ah yes, that’s right. Ai isn’t here. He had advised Kusanagi-san to use Ai’s help to break into SOL, they did it before and they were too careless. Yusaku wants to go back to that place again, this time however, without opening old but still-fresh wounds.

“Good. Thank you for the reminders, Roboppy.”

The little cleaning robot turns to him and giggles, making the usually stoic boy smile a little.

Yusaku then let’s Roboppy do her job and grabs his recent cleaned school uniform (aways the same, oversized blue uniform) and an old towel, trotting up to his tiny bathroom.

It’s then that his routine goes back to normality.

He carefully removes his pajamas along with the dirty bandages on his left forearm and wrist, and his underwear before he steps inside the shower.

He shivers under the cold water and curses himself for not paying his bills (for not _asking Kusanagi-san to pay_ for his bills), droplets pool up on the corner of his eyes as the icy water bites his wounds and the blue-haired hisses between gritted teeth.

After applying the shampoo (carefully) and going through another torture session of _freezing_ water, he steps out of the shower, grabbing the towel with his good arm and drying himself up, ignoring the broken mirror.

There is the routine breaker of today: he won’t be able to apply make up until he gets to school.

Yusaku groans at the thought of all those nosey boys, all with their tidy uniforms and confident smirks, pointing fingers at him and making fun of him for his tastes.

“Too _girly”_. ...It’s so annoying.

On the other hand, the boy is glad he won’t see himself this time. Yusaku opens the small closet on his cubicle of a bathroom and applies another curative to his arm, hissing as the tissue of the gauze touches his cuts and bruises.

He is not happy with himself for what he did last night. Maybe he really should follow Takeru’s advice and open up to him.

_(“I’m the only one that can fully understand what you’re feeling right now. Please, promise me, whenever you feel this way again, talk to me…”)_

Yusaku clicks his tongue and when he is finally done with his arm, he wears a pair of black boxers, then an equally black pair of socks that reach just until below his knees. Next is his shirt, white and large, the soft line caresses his freshly-bathed skin and it falls down his thin frame until the middle of his thighs.

After putting it up, he grabs his blue uniform pants, putting them on with ease and carelessly. Yusaku prefers the shirt out anyways.

Before he wears his uniform jacket, he neatly knots his tie (got to thank Kusanagi-san for always showing him out to do it in the past).

Yusaku makes sure to pull the sleeves way down so the bandages are not noticeable, the last thing he needs now is another adult shoving their nose onto his _personal_ business. They can’t help him. Kusanagi is the only adult he needs on his life.

Yusaku then leaves the bathroom. Roboppy was already there with his shoes, her glowing eyes comically closed conveying a feeling of joy.

“Master, you took 5 minutes and 31 seconds more than usual! You’ll be late for school if you don’t hurry!”

 _‘The teachers don’t care if I arrive late to class, so why should_ **_I_ ** _care?’_ “Thank you, Roboppy. I will.”

The robot maid beeps with contentment as Yusaku accepts the shoes from her. They were old but clean, and that’s all that mattered to Yusaku.

Making sure he had his phone in his pocket and his deck in the other, Yusaku leaves his apartment. “I’m going now!”

“Have a nice day, master!”

On his way out, he makes sure to avoid the passed out landlord at his doorstep, probably there to yell at him again for Yusaku’s payment.

He _really_ needs money.

 

**\-----------------**

 

Takeru loves his new life in Den City.

Back in his hometown, in his grandparents house he only had the silence and the  pictures of his deceased parents as company, fuelling his nightmares.

However, now in the small shitty apartment he lives in, he has the _noise._ No matter the time, Den City was always _alive_ ; the neon lights slipping through his open windows, the noise of traffic reaching his ears through the thin walls, and that stupid water tap that just _doesn't stop_ dripping.

All of this noise drove the nightmares away, and every day was a different one with a new routine.

Today, it was not the City that woke him but his small partner yelling at him from the top of his lungs (Do Ignis even have organs? After all Takeru has seen he doesn’t even know what to think anymore).

“What is it, Flame?” the red and white haired asks groggily.

The sentient A.I. huffs, crossing his arms.

“You have school in a few minutes. Seriously you should set up an alarm! Waking you up shouldn’t be _my_ responsibility!”

“Why not?”

“Why-- ...look… My job as your _partner_ is to assist you on duels and hacking.”

Takeru blinks the sleepiness away and rubs his eyes, letting out a loud long yawn.

“Damn… I miss summer vacation already...”

“This was _your_ decision.”

Takeru groans, kicking the covers and getting up from the bed, doing a beeline towards the dropped bags on the far end of his room.

“You should clean that up.”

“Ok.” The boy doesn’t even look up, too busy trying to find something between all the clothes, hygiene products and other things Kiku shoved inside. “Where’s that goddamn uniform?!”

At that, came Flame’s surprised “Oh!”. The fire Ignis for once looks embarrassed. “About that… I… Look! Your uniform was in a _miserable_ state, so I send it to the lavandery.”

Takeru snaps his head back to the A.I., eyes wide with shock. “You _what_?!”

“It should be ready by this afternoon--”

“Afternoon?! Then what am I supposed to wear to school?! My pajamas?!” A long sigh. “Guess I’ll just have to skip th--”

“No! You’re _going_ to school! And I will stay here working on program for you and Playmaker.”

Takeru whines. “ _Flaaaaameeee--_ ”

 

**\-----------**

 

Aoi’s routine is repetitive, programmed if you will.

Everyday she is awakened by her maid robot at exactly 6:00 a.m with the same message that her brother just left for work and he would be coming back late.

Aoi regrets wishing that her brother got demoted again. She misses the meals with her brother’s presence by her side, the tapping fingers on a table accompanied by the comments on the news.

_(“Blue Angel saved multiple children from the Another virus. Good job!”)_

She knows she is being selfish _again_ , and that now she knows how her brother really thinks. Aoi _changed_ , she is not the brat that hides being Blue Angel’s façade anymore.

Aoi not only _understands_ , but she also wants to _help_ her brother.

“Set reminder.” the girl says in her usual monotone voice. “Contact _Ghost Girl_ after school.”

“Understood!” Her maid bot chirps. It says something more but Aoi doesn’t pay attention, she _already_ _knows_ breakfast is ready and her tidy uniform is on top of her recently-made bed.

As she enters the bathroom and steps inside the shower, warm gentle streams of water falling over her, she closes her eyes and _escapes_.

( _“Hello, everyone! It’s your favourite idol, Blue Angel~! ☆ On today’s performance, I’ll give you a blood-pumping duel!! It’s going to be hard but doesn’t that make it more exciting?! Please support me ok? ♡ ”_ )

This life is so boring.

 

\-----------

 

Aoi is the one that arrives first at school. She says goodbye to her private motorist and leaves the car, ignoring the looks other students cast her. She is used to them already, they’re nothing more than a nuisance.

She walks through the school campus with calm, taking as much time as possible so she could avoid the Duel Club members, specially Shima, that would come to her class and sit right next to her, trying to talk to her (a.k.a trying to get a shiny new duel disk).

As time goes by and Aoi keeps walking at a snail pace, taking her sweet sweet moment to look at her surroundings. She watches as the campus progressively fills up in the dark blues of Den City High uniforms. The students walking past her at their own pace, with their own worries.

It’s all so ordinary for her, that’s why her eye immediately catches up that one person not wearing an uniform, in the school’s private campus.

Aoi holds her breath; the man was wearing a gym suit with a hood over her head, covering his face from view and he was harassing one of the students.

Her eyes widen recognizing that blue hair with pink streaks, those striking green eyes as the boy responded back to the hooded man in what seemed a heated response.

Aoi should probably ignore it and move on since class is about to start. But… she owns to Yusaku Fujiki and she hates being in debt.

Aoi marches forward, letting the school bag slip down her shoulders.

“C’mon! Give it to me!” The hooded man yells, gripping the blue-haired arm and pulling.

“Stop it! You’re hurting me!” Aoi never heard introverted Yusaku sound so angry and pained. “Let me go!”

The brown-haired takes this as a cue and gripping the alces of her bag, she flungs it forward, striking the man in the gym suit right in the head with force, making him lose his balance and let go of Yusaku.

“Gaahhh!!”

“Didn’t you heard him? He said to let him go!” She can’t hold back the heat in her voice, her heart is pumping with adrenaline and her stance is tense, ready for the next strike.

“...Aoi Zaizen?”

Aoi turns back to the frightened boy, holding his arm close to his chest. It lasts a couple of seconds however, before his usual calm demeanor comes back.

“Are you ok?”

“I am fine. Thank you for coming to my aid, but, your help was unnecessary--”

“Ow…”

“Also you hurt Takeru.”

“Huh?!”

Aoi then looks down at the fallen man- _boy_. The hood fell, finally showing a mop of soft white hair with red ends, a strong jaw and lavender eyes that reflected the boy’s current pain.

The girl gives a soft gasp, feeling a little embarrassed.

“I’m so sorry, Homura-kun.” She says, and somehow her voice doesn’t reflect her current state, actually sounding monotone and dry as usual. She offers her hand. “I thought you were some thug harassing Fujiki-kun. No offense, but you look like a delinquent in those clothes.”

Takeru makes a face at her but takes her hand, accepting her help.

Yusaku approaches them still holding his arm close. ‘Did Homura hurt him that much?’. Aoi tights her grip on the boy’s larger hand. A warning.

“What was this all about though? Why were you acting so violent towards Fujiki?”

Takeru blushes and starts babbling nonsense. Yusaku is the one that speaks up.

“He forgot his uniform. So he wanted mine.”

Aoi blinks at him.

“...What?”

“I-It’s n-not what you’re t-thinking Zaizen-san!!” Takeru yells, his face red. “They won’t let me in like this,” he makes an exaggerated movement with his arms, as he was gesticulating himself. “I-I have a bad reputation already from my previous school… If I so happen to break the school’s code of clothing then I’ll-- I’m gonna--”

Aoi closes her eyes and lets out a long sigh. “So your idea was take Fujiki’s uniform to you while he misses school, again.”

“Well… he doesn’t mind so--”

“Forget it! I already have a solution to your problem!”

Yusaku, that has been silent during all their exchange, perks up at that and asks in a suspicious tone: “You do?”

 

\-----------------

 

Aoi’s solution was actually pretty simple.

The girl always had a spare uniform with her, which she could borrow to Yusaku that in turn would give his own uniform to Takeru.

“Are you fine with this?!”

“Yes… I don’t mind really.” Yusaku holds the girl’s uniform in his hands, it was big on Aoi so it should fit him well. At least he hopes, he’s seen how short that skirt looked on Aoi. “I’m gonna change now.” And he can also finally put on his make up.

“Oh cool! I’m coming with you then--”

“No!”

“Huh? Why not? We’re both boys?” Takeru snorts, leaning towards him and Yusaku steps back. “Oh c’mon! Are you shy?”

No. He just doesn’t want Takeru to see.

Aoi had already left for class, leaving the two boys alone. Yusaku chews on his bottom lip, anxiety pooling inside his chest just at the thought of being exposed; showing off all his weaknesses.

“Yusaku,” the boy with red strands teases. “Are you afraid of me seeing you in girl’s clothes~?”

“No.”

“I’m sure you’ll look great~! You already look good in everything!” Takeru exclaims with a laugh.

“...What?”

Takeru stops laughing. He looks at Yusaku, blinks once, twice, the realization of what he just said sinking in, and he blushes violently.

“N-N-Not l-like that! I-I… I just think you’re really pretty!”

“...”

“N-No!! You’re not! Shi-- I mean! No! You aren’t not pretty! You--”

Yusaku doesn’t say anything. He can’t say anything with the knot on his throat. His cheeks feel oddly warm and his palms are sweaty.

He just stares at the flushered boy in front of him and thinks about his words on that day they first met; how Takeru understood him and how he could help him back.

Yeah… that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

“Ok. You can come in with me.” It’s odd. His voice sounds weak for some reason.

Takeru stops then, looking back at him with red cheeks, a tentative smile on his lips.

Yusaku breaths in, gathering all the courage within himself. Anything to have this gentle warmth with him; something that’ll protect him from the mean comments of his classmates, the disgusting glare of his landlord and the darkness of his lonely apartment.

“Will you… stay with me? For the rest of the day?”

To which Takeru answers with red cheeks and a radiant smile.

“Of course!”


End file.
